In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, Trump and Vance embrace government by reply guy

Vice President JD Vance gave a very moving speech on Charlie Kirk’s show in the aftermath of his assassination. Amid a storm of speculation, celebration, and outrage, Vance and others associated with the administration are delivering on the digital demands of their constituents. Kirk’s killing has not only laid bare a manifest ugliness on the left, but has crystallized a new fact of life: Social media is making government more responsive.

Increased responsiveness to poster concerns has its origins in Trump’s first campaign. The president’s original ascent was largely due to his social media mastery and the previous administration's unwillingness to respond to its own people.

The tenor and tone of the current administration is being shaped by what the people post.

Many have forgotten the dynamism and explosiveness of Trump’s 2016 social media campaign. He changed the game completely — after a decade of Obama-era "professionalism" and phony moral hectoring, America saw a real person speaking in a real way. Trump instantaneously responded to breaking news and latest developments. Trump’s prowess and persona beamed out of phones and laptops across the country, magnifying his attacks and highlighting his accomplishments. This set the stage for our current recalibration.

Throttled by censorship and predigested narratives from mainstream television and print media, Americans’ viewpoints and concerns never managed to breach containment. Neither pundits nor politicians were articulating their concerns. Until now.

Now, a gender-dysphoric DEI stalwart is immediately and publicly canned by Pete Hegseth after posters flagged the insubordination on X. Now, in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a legion of posters flag Department of War employees joyfully celebrating his murder, and Hegseth publicly and rapidly suspends or terminates their employment.

It goes farther than firings. Vice President Vance’s speech on Charlie Kirk’s show reflected online sentiment. Vance verbalized what many were tweeting:

“There is no unity with people who scream at children over their parents’ politics. There is no unity with someone who lies about what Charlie Kirk said in order to excuse his murder. There is no unity with someone who harasses an innocent family the day after the father of that family lost a dear friend. There is no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk’s assassination.”

For all the doom and gloom about brain rot, our commentariat’s stupidity, and infotainment overload, we are witnessing in real time how positive social media can be for a government interested in responding to its own people.

The tenor and tone of the current administration are being shaped by what the people post. The fiery reaction of Vance’s supporters to Charlie Kirk’s slaying gave him the green light to speak his mind and go all in on the truth. Social media is sharpening political speechmaking, purifying the federal government of antagonistic bureaucrats, and even shaping policy.

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Photo by Carl de Souza/Getty Images

The $100,000 H-1B fee imposed by Trump is another prime example. Earlier this year, Elon Musk and online fans had a public flameout with MAGA keyboard warriors over the subject. Musk et al. passionately defended the H-1B visa, while longtime MAGA stalwarts staunchly opposed it. The MAGA stalwarts steadily continued voicing opposition to the program online, and in response, the visa was weakened with a slew of restrictions, barriers to entry, and financial penalties.

X is now an instant feedback mechanism that administrations genuinely interested in responding to public concerns can leverage. It allows for public officials to capitalize on small successes like firing hateful bureaucrats and shows them which way the wind is blowing on issues like "high-skilled" immigration.

Vance has soaked up some of Trump’s digital consciousness here, whether that’s laying out liberals over counter-narcoterrorism operations or pursuing an aggressive rhetorical strategy against the radical left. As the 47th presidential Cabinet continues its work, we can only expect to see this rapid response strategy expand in scope and sensitivity to poster priorities. Social media is real-time massive-sample-size polling available to any leader who wants to win and keep winning.